The present invention relates generally to equipment utilized and operations performed in conjunction with a subterranean well and, in an embodiment described herein, more particularly provides a system and method for damping fluid pressure waves in a subterranean well.
It is well known that detonation of perforating guns in a well can cause damage to equipment in the well. It has generally been considered that this damage is due primarily to forces generated by detonation of the perforating guns. These forces are transmitted to other equipment via a tubing string in which the perforating guns and the other equipment are interconnected.
For this reason, previous attempts to protect the equipment from damage have focused on isolating the equipment from the forces generated by the perforating guns' detonation. For example, shock absorbers have been interconnected in the tubing string between the equipment and the perforating guns. As another example, methods have been developed wherein the equipment is physically separated from the perforating guns prior to detonating the perforating guns.
However, damage to equipment may actually, or additionally, be caused by pressure waves generated by the perforating guns when they are detonated. Shock absorbers do not isolate the equipment from damage due to these pressure waves. Furthermore, separating the equipment from the perforating guns may not be necessary if damage to the equipment may be prevented, or at least substantially reduced, by damping the pressure waves.
Damping pressure waves may also be beneficial in other operations performed in wells. For example, fracturing operations, propellant-driven packer setting, casing repair, etc.